Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, January 10, and Friday, January 17
Florida Killer
A U.S. Department of Labor investigation determined a Mulberry phosphatic fertilizer manufacturer failed to follow required safety standards, leading to the tragic loss of a 29-year-old process operator in July 2024.
Investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that Mosaic Fertilizer LLC did not ensure the rotating portion of the east and west industrial ribbon blenders – a device that mixes the finished fertilizer with a coating oil – had the proper guarding in place or secured. The worker, who was collecting a sample for analysis, suffered fatal injuries after falling into the unguarded ribbon blender.
“This unfortunate incident could have been prevented had Mosaic Fertilizer LLC ensured all machines were secured and guarded,” said OSHA Area Director Danelle Jindra in Tampa, Florida. “In this case, the employer failed to protect workers as the law requires. No employee should lose their life because an employer neglects basic safety measures.”
OSHA issued the employer two serious violations and proposed $30,649 in penalties.
Louisiana Thieves
The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $446,334 in back wages and liquidated damages from two northwest Louisiana home care companies that misclassified 88 workers as independent contractors, depriving them of overtime wages in violation of federal law.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division found that 24 employees of the Stonewall-based Inner Quality Services LLC and 64 employees of the Shreveport-based Sincere Client Care Services LLC were misclassified as independent contractors and paid straight-time rates for all hours worked, including for hours over 40 in a workweek.
The division recovered $70,106 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages from Inner Quality Services for affected employees, and $153,061 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for the affected employees at Sincere Client Care Services to resolve their Fair Labor Standards Act violations.
“The Wage and Hour Division takes employee misclassification seriously, and we will continue to hold employers accountable when workers are denied their lawfully earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Troy Mouton in New Orleans. “Misclassification often results in workers losing critical workplace protections and benefits, including overtime pay. This practice is unfair to the workers and other employers who classify their workforce correctly.”
More Louisiana Thieves
The findings of two recent U.S. Department of Labor investigations show misclassification of employees as independent contractors is an ongoing concern for home care industry workers in Louisiana and throughout the nation as the practice deprives them of their full wages and other important benefits.
Investigations by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that two south Louisiana companion care providers – We Care Homes Inc. and Special Needs Unlimited LLC – misclassified a total of 158 employees as independent contractors and, by doing so, failed to pay them $422,137 in overtime wages earned for hours over 40 in a workweek.
“Home care workers employed by We Care Homes and Special Needs Unlimited typically worked long hours providing essential services for people unable to care for themselves. In exchange, they deserve to be paid their full wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Troy Mouton in New Orleans. “We are determined to protect workers’ rights and hold employers accountable for meeting their legal obligations.”
To resolve the violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the division recovered $422,137 in back overtime wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for a total recovery of $844,274. Specifically, the division recovered $634,119 from We Care Homes for 123 affected employees and $210,156 for the 35 affected employees at Special Needs Unlimited LLC.
Union Busters
Brought to you by LaborLab: The nation’s leading watchdog standing with working families to stop employer coercion and intimidation. Visit www.laborlab.us for more info.
- PetSmart in Fairfield, CA paid LRI Consulting $425/hour
- Petsmart workers have recently begun organizing across the country with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
- LRI Consulting sub-contracted Evelyn Fragoso of Quality Labor Solutions; she was compensated $200/hour
- Fragroso was previously a union organizer with United Farm Workers and Teamsters Local 396 in California before joining the union busting sector in 2012. That work has proved much more lucrative obviously – she was paid 70k for one month of work during a union busting campaign in 2023.
- Election was held on 1/3/25; results pending
- S&S Activewear in Bolingbrook, IL hired LR Consultants
Dishonorable Mentions
- The USDOL has obtained a consent judgment and injunction to recover $66,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 13 restaurant workers whose Oklahoma City employer -Zachary Edge, owner and operator of Edge Craft LLC – kept employee tips and failed to pay overtime
- The USDOL filed suit against MSES Consultants Inc. and owner Lawrence Rine in West Virginia after they found fiduciary breaches related to the company’s Employee Health Plan. Investigators found the parties failed to pay more than $187,000 in adjudicated health claims, resulting in harm to the plan’s participants and beneficiaries, who were entitled to benefits under the plan as MSES employees. The engineering consulting company is now defunct. The DOL negotiated and entered a consent judgment that requires the company and Rine to pay for an independent fiduciary to investigate unpaid plan claims and remit money to pay any remaining money due for those claims, among other things
- The USDOL found TruHealth Integrated Care – the operator of 24 healthcare locations across eastern Oklahoma and one in Mountain View, Arkansas, illegally fired an employee for taking federally protected medical leave. The department recovered $15,000 for the affected employee
- A USDOL investigation found that drainpipe cleaning and maintenance company Southeast Services of the Treasure Coast Inc in Port St Lucie, FL could have prevented an explosion in June 2024 that claimed a 24-year-old worker’s life by implementing proper safety measures to address the hazards of inflatable pipe plugs. The explosion ejected one worker 15 feet from the storm drain, resulting in fatal injuries. OSHA has assessed the employer $16,131 in proposed penalties.
- The USDOL announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections in December 2024 at 13 mines in Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia, and issued 119 violations
- Northern Virginia Surgery Center, LLC (NVSC), which operates an outpatient surgery center, will pay $50,000 and provide programmatic relief to resolve a disability and age discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. EEOC. According to the lawsuit, when an older radiologic technologist requested an extension of her medical leave to recover from carpel tunnel surgery, NVSC terminated her and replaced her with two significantly younger and less-qualified co-workers. The termination and replacement occurred while the employee was still on approved medical leave
- The USDOL debarred Reymundo Perez Guzman and his daughter Yadira Perez Gamas for three years from the H2A visa program for widespread violations of federal regulations, charged the two with over $160k in penalties, and recovered over $70k in stolen wages for the guest workers.
- The USDOL entered into an agreement with JBS USA Food Co. in which the nation’s leading meat packing processor and slaughterhouse will provide $4 million to assist individuals and communities affected by unlawful child labor practices nationwide including in Guntervsille, AL, holding key elements of its supply chain, third-party contractors and service providers accountable for illegal child labor.
- Mining fatalities decreased by 30% in 2024 and, for the first time since 2021, the Mine Safety and Health Administration reports that “none of the nation’s mines met the POV criteria for the existence of a pattern of violations under section 104(e) of the Mine Act,” which MSHA credits to active enforcement efforts following a “troubilng increase” in fatalities in 2023
- Kane’s Furniture, LLC, a Florida-based furniture retail company, will pay $1,482,748.00 in monetary relief and provide significant equitable relief to settle a federal class sex discrimination lawsuit, the EEOC announced. In its lawsuit, the agency charged that since at least 2021, Kane’s Furniture implemented a discriminatory policy of not hiring female applicants for driver and warehouse positions at their distribution center or any of their eighteen retail locations across Florida. The lawsuit charged that recruiters expressly screened women out of the hiring process.
- The EPA and DOJ announced a settlement agreement with Fayat S.A.S, and nine of its subsidiaries for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act’s mobile source emission standards regulations. The complaint alleges that, between 2014 and 2018, Fayat and its subsidiaries illegally imported and sold hundreds of pavers, rollers and other nonroad equipment containing diesel engines that failed to meet Clean Air Act emission requirements. The complaint also alleges that Fayat failed to comply with Clean Air Act labeling and reporting requirements. The agreement requires Fayat to pay a civil penalty of $11 million and requires the company to complete a project to reduce the harm caused by excess nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions.
- Hino Motors, a Toyota subsidiary, pled guilty and reached criminal and civil resolutions valued at $1.6B with a multitude of government agencies including the EPA, FBI, and the state of California for violations related to the submission of false and fraudulent engine emission testing and fuel consumption data to regulators and the illicit smuggling of engines into the United States. This unlawful conduct allowed Hino to improperly secure approvals to import and sell, and cause to be imported and sold, more than 110,000 diesel engines in the United States from 2010 to 2022. These engines were primarily installed in heavy-duty trucks manufactured and sold by Hino nationwide.